Cigarette pack

ABSTRACT

Packaging for smoking articles such as cigarettes in a rigid, hinged-lidded carton includes a sealed barrier layer enclosure within the carton and a line of separation aligned with a lid-end edge of an inner frame of the carton so that the edge acts as a guide in shearing the barrier layer when opening the enclosure.

This invention relates to packaging for smoking articles such ascigarettes, cigars or cigarillos and particularly though not exclusivelyfor cigarettes. For convenience we will refer to the smoking articles ascigarettes in this specification.

It is highly desirable that packaged cigarettes should be protected fromdeterioration due to excessive or reduced humidity and should not loseflavour by exposure to air or moisture. In a conventional cigarettecarton the primary barrier layer is afforded by an external wrap oftransparent plastics material, usually a polypropylene, which can beremoved by use of a tear strip when the smoker wishes to open thecarton. Inside such cartons a secondary barrier is provided by acomposite of thin paper and metal foil which immediately surrounds thecigarettes but which being merely folded around them is not a sealedenclosure and indeed usually has a completely separate portion at thetop which is lifted out and discarded by the user when he wishes to getaccess to the cigarettes.

In the United States where "soft packs" of cigarettes are prevalent, theouter layer of such packs may be a metallised plastics layer or alaminate which includes a metal layer, both of which have very superiorbarrier properties and which when appropriately printed can have anattractive appearance. It is completely sealed round the pack. Howeverthe material being soft and flexible can be punctured or torn;furthermore, soft packs are not regarded as commercially attractive inother parts of the world. Examples of a soft pack are to be seen inGB-A-1471086 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,235, the latter showing ametallised external barrier material.

An object of the present invention is to provide a pack for cigaretteswhich has a highly effective, sealed, barrier layer which is containedwithin a protective shell of a carton; the carton may optionally beoverwrapped with a conventional transparent or other barrier layer.

The internal barrier layer is formed of a plastics/metal laminate or ofa metallised plastics material. Both of these have superior barrierproperties and attractive appearance. The carton is of the hinged-lidtype, namely one in which the lid is hinged adjacent a rear or side wallof the carton, has side walls which extend towards the opposite paneland which when opened by rotation along its hinge line gives access tothe ends of a collocation of cigarettes within the carton so that theycan be withdrawn essentially along the direction of their own axis, ifappropriate after removal of an internal barrier layer.

An internal barrier of metal-containing composite material can be seenin U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,712 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,001,325 (FIGS. 7 and 8)with in both cases a tearable flap being defined by lines of weaknessand being torn upwardly by the user pulling directly or indirectly uponthe bottom edge of that flap. GB-A-2038765 has an aroma-tight enclosurewithin a hinged-lid container, openable by pulling on a pull tab tocause separation of the material of the enclosure along a line parallelwith one edge of the container.

In the invention, a barrier layer and an outside edge forming a sealedenclosure is interposed between the cigarettes and a carton and at leasta portion of an edge of the carton is immediately adjacent one edge of aseparation line of the barrier layer and outside that edge. Usually thebarrier layer will have a tear strip one edge of which is on the alignedseparation line; when the tear strip or other pull means on the barrierlayer is pulled outwardly by the user in order to separate the topportion of the barrier enclosure from its lower portion, the alignededge acts as an "anvil" supporting the barrier layer against outwardmovement and thereby assisting a positive and clean separation of theupper portion of the barrier layer along the predetermined pathdetermined by and aligned with the said edge of the carton.

The said edge of the carton is preferably provided by an inner framemember.

The inner frame member may be the sole member of the inner frame; but ina second and preferred embodiment of the invention the inner frame hastwo members, as an inner and as an outer, and the barrier layer issandwiched between the two members, with the outer of the two membersproviding the aligned edge and the inner of the two members providingguidance shoulders fitting within and sliding upon side walls of the lidof the carton as that is pivoted about the hinge.

The barrier layer may be provided with a line or lines of weakening tofurther assist definition of the line of separation, but normally suchlines of weakening will not be needed, given the support afforded thebarrier layer during severance by the inner frame edge.

In most embodiments of the invention the line of separation and thealigned edge will both be straight; however, particularly if lines ofweakening are provided, some degree of curvature may be achieved.

Particular embodiments of the invention will be described with referenceto the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a face view of a blank for a first embodiment of barrier layerenclosure;

FIG. 1A is a face view of a variant;

FIG. 2 is a section on the plane II--II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a face view of a blank for an inner frame of a carton;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an assembled carton including the frameand made up barrier package;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of package;

FIG. 6 is a face view of a blank for the barrier enclosure of the secondembodiment in juxtaposition with an inner member of an inner frame;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a third embodiment of package;

FIG. 8 is a face view of a third embodiment of the inner frame;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a fourth embodiment of package;

FIG. 10 is a face view of a fourth embodiment of the inner frame.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a carton with an upper portion of thebarrier enclosure removed;

FIG. 12 is a face view of that inner member; and

FIG. 13 is a face view of an outer member of the inner frame.

Referring first to FIG. 1, a blank 1 of a laminate to be described isfor a barrier enclosure and is to be folded, on machinery known per se,on fold lines 2,3,4,5 to form a tubular wrap to surround an assembly offor example twenty cigarettes which may be contained in a known tray orthe wrap may be formed in known manner, around a hollow mandrelcontaining the cigarettes. The wrap is secured by a seam withheat-sealable or cold-sealable material in the cross hatched area 6,with edge 7 of the blank brought to edge 8 of the heat-sealable area.The seam formed by the overlap of area 6 and edge 8 is peelable becausethe strength of adhesion is lower than the tear strength of thelaminate. The seam is positioned at a front major face of the wrap andpanel 9 of the wrap is to be the backface within the carton. Inalternative forms the seam could be elsewhere, and particularly in theregion of a front corner of the carton.

End flaps 10,11 are folded on fold lines 12,13 over the ends of thepacked cigarettes, with folds being formed in known manner on diagonalfold lines such as 14, and are sealed in known manner, either betweenthe plastics materials of the laminate or via a known sealable coating.Fold line 12 is at one edge of a tear strip 23 which traverses all ofthe fold lines 2-5 as well as sealed area 6 as far as the edge 7, with atab 16 extending beyond that edge, a corresponding indentation 17 in thesealed area 6 serving both to weaken that area and to avoid waste ofmaterial in the cutting of the blanks. At the edge 7 there are shortcuts through the material at each of the lines 12,15 which show theupper and lower edges of the tear strip, to give clean initiation of atear.

A suitable material as shown in FIG. 2 is a laminate known per se inwhich layer 20 is polyester of a thickness of 12 μm, layer 21 isaluminium foil of a thickness of 8 μm and layer 22 is polyethylene of athickness of 25 μm. An alternative is for example aluminium foil of 15μm thickness with polypropylene of 12 μm thickness on both faces. Tearstrip 23 is on the surface innermost when the blank is made up.

In a variant shown in FIG. 1A, strip 23' is slightly curved in part,with tab 16' matching recess 17'. Here, cut line 12' is spaced from thefold line 13' with the flap 10.

It is possible for one or more lines of weakening, continuous ordiscontinuous, to be provided in the laminate which further guide andpermit ready tearing of the laminate along the strip 23, 23' preciselydefined; however the lines of weakening must not affect the barrierproperties of the laminate which are primarily due to the metal layer 21and thicker polyethylene or polypropylene layer 22.

A particularly advantageous method is to cut through the material oflayer 20 by laser without affecting or distorting the metal layer 21.For methods of making such cuts see e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,231.

Thus, when the blank is made up into a wrap surrounding an assembly ofcigarettes whether with an intermediate tray or not, the strip 23,23'terminating in the tab 16,16', can be torn out by the user pulling onthat tab thereby to detach the whole of the top of the barrier enclosureand reveal the cigarettes. Initiation of the tear is assisted by thereduced width of the heat-seal 6 under the tab 16,16', due in part torecess 17,17', and by the through-cuts adjacent the edge 7.

The wrapped collocation of cigarettes is intended to be placed in asubstantially hard carton of the flip-top type as indicated at 25 inFIG. 4. The carton is shown with its lid 26 open exposing the top of thewrapped pack of cigarettes and the tab 16.

Such cartons usually have an inner frame.

In the present embodiment, the inner frame is formed from the blank 28seen in FIG. 3 which has a front panel area 29 terminating at cornerfold lines 30,31 to give side panels 32,33 and a rim 34,35 to underliethe back panel of the carton. Ears 36 known per se project slightlyoutwardly at the upper corner of the inner frame once assembled and actto engage with the lid 26 when the latter is closed.

The carton has an edge 38 which is closely aligned in the made up cartonwith the lower edge of the strip 23; in dotted lines there is shown acurved edge 37, the shape of which corresponds to curvature 39 of thestrip 23' adjacent the tab 16' (FIG. 1A). When the wrapped pack isplaced in the carton and the user pulls on the tab 16 a clean breakalong the line 15 is assisted by the support given immediately adjacent,and corresponding to, that line by the edge 37,38 of the carton, here,as is preferred, being provided by the inner frame 28.

In this way there is achieved a wrap for cigarettes in which theadvantageous barrier properties of the multi-layer composite are notaffected while allowing ready access to the contents of the wrap whendesired.

The tear strip 23 is known per se, and is of higher tensile strengththan the composite making up the barrier layer.

It will be seen that in that first embodiment the upper edge of theinner frame lies somewhat further up the carton than is conventional,thus not revealing as much of the ends of the collocation of cigarettesas the consumer is accustomed to seeing.

The embodiment to be described with reference to FIG. 5 onwards has amore conventional appearance and this is achieved by having an innerframe which has two members, an inner and an outer.

In FIG. 5 a carton 50 is shown with its lid 51 hinged open to expose theupper portion 52 of a sealed barrier enclosure and an upper edge portionof an inner frame member 53. The upper edge 54 of that member 53 is ator close to a level conventional for flip-top cartons so that, when theuser pulls on a tab 55 of the barrier layer enclosure and separates theupper portion 52 of that enclosure from the lower, the appearance of thecarton is that seen in FIG. 11. The structure of a blank for the barrierenclosure of the second embodiment is seen in FIG. 6.

This blank for the enclosure 52 is very similar to that seen in FIG. 1,with fold lines 2-5 running parallel to edges 7 and line 8 beyond whichis an area 6 of heat seal material. Fold lines 12,13 are to define thetop and bottom edges of the enclosure formed by the blank, and diagonalfold lines 14 permit the formation in known manner of the overlappedcorners of the enclosure.

A tear strip 23" may project at one edge to provide a tab 16"(55,55',55" in the perspective figures) with a corresponding recess 17"at the opposite edge, or a non-projecting tab may be formed by cuts intothat edge. The upper edge 12" of the tear strip is substantially spacedfrom the fold line 13 and the line 15" of its lower edge will be alignedin the assembled carton both with the base of a vee of an inner portionof an inner member of the inner frame and with an upper edge of an outermember of the inner frame, in a manner to be described.

FIG. 6 shows in dotted lines the relative positioning of inner framemember 56 with its inclined surfaces 59 to form a vee, and with the base60 of that vee aligned with the lower edge 15" of the tear strip 23".

The pull tab and its associated seam need not be positioned at thecentre of the major face of the pack but may be towards one side, forexample towards the right hand side as shown, with the user pullingleftwards across the major face. Such embodiments are seen in FIGS. 7 to10.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show how the pull tab 55' may be positioned closelyadjacent to a front corner of the package 50. In FIG. 8, it will be seenthat the sealable area 6 overlies an edge of the front panel of theinner member 56'. As compared to the embodiment of FIG. 6, the innermember 56' has greater length, so that it underlies the whole depth ofthe barrier material between fold ines 12 and 13. Lower projection 41 ofthe inner member 56' projects below fold line 13 but is itself definedby fold line 42; it is therefore folded in as the barrier materialfolding and sealing occurs. The advantage of this arrangement is thatthe whole side panel length of the heat-sealable area 6 is supported bythe inner member 56'; also the folded-under projection 41 provides anadditional floor for the cigarettes to rest on.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show how the pull tab 55" may be on a side wall of thepackage 50", at what becomes a side seam 43 of the sealed barrierenclosure. Here, the heat-sealable area 6 overlies a side wall 40' ofthe inner member 56". As in the third embodiment, the inner memberextends under the barrier material for the whole length between foldlines 12 and 13, and inner member 56" has lower projection 41 and foldline 42.

When the upper portion of any of these embodiments has been separated,the unobservant user will think that the pack is conventional inappearance (see FIG. 11). The observant user will however see that theinner frame has two members, an outer 53 and an inner 56,56',56" andthat the barrier enclosure 52 was, and the remaining part of it stillis, sandwiched in between them. A very thin line of the material of thebarrier layer enclosure will be visible immediately adjacent the edge 54of the outer member of the inner frame which provides the conventionalears 58 which assist in retaining that lid in the closed position.

The inner member 56,56',56" of the inner frame is immediately adjacentthe edge of the collocation 57 of cigarettes in the packaging, heretwenty of them; where the inner member 56 is absent these cigarettes areimmediately surrounded by the material of the barrier enclosure 52.

The inner member 56,56',56" of the inner frame provides side walls 40for the guidance of side walls of the lid 51 as that is closed onto thecarton, and also the conventional-looking vee due to inclined walls 59.

The provision of the two members of the inner frame causes the carton tohave a "feel" which is much more solid and robust to the touch than theconventional carton.

As is more clearly seen in FIG. 8, this inner member of the inner framecan be cut repetitiously from a single web of suitable card material toprovide a portion forming a front panel 61 and two side wings 62.

The base 63 of the projecting vee is aligned with and will lie closelyupon the floor of the barrier layer enclosure which is to be formed byfolding at the lower fold line 13.

It will be seen that the side panels 62 are slightly wider between theirfold lines 64 and extreme edge 65 than the distance between fold lines 2and 3 of the blank, with the effect that when assembled the extreme rearedges of those side panels 62 will tend to be bowed slightly inwards asindicated at 66, FIG. 6 in a manner which is per se conventional andwhich is to help ensure that the side walls of the lid slide outside andnot inside the side panels 62.

The outer member of the inner frame is a rectangle of card, as seen inFIG. 13, with fold lines 67 to overlie fold lines 2 and 5 of the barrierlayer enclosure.

In one method of assembly, the inner member 56 will be preadhered to theblank 52 as indicated and the latter then inserted in a pocket known perse, charged with a collocation of cigarettes around which the barrierlayer is then folded and sealed to form the barrier disclosure. Theouter member of the inner frame is then assembled over the barrier layerbefore or at the same time as the enclosure containing the cigarettes isinserted into a made up carton or the carton blank is folded again inknown manner around that assembly.

The previous embodiments have had a single side seam; it is equallypossible for the barrier layer to be folded "lengthwise" over thecigarettes and sealed so as to have two side seams and a single envelopeend. To open such a barrier enclosure a single tear strip or other lineof separation would suffice, at the front of the pack; however, if itwere desired to remove the whole of the upper portion of such anenclosure upon opening, a tear strip or the like provided on both majorfaces of the barrier enclosure and welded at the side seam could beprovided.

We claim:
 1. Packaging for smoking articles having a barrier layer and acarton with a major front face, a major rear face parallel to and spacedfrom the front face by side walls and a hinged lid at an upper end ofthe major rear face, edges of the barrier layer overlapping to form asealed enclosure around a charge of the smoking articles in the cartonand an edge of the major front face of the carton being aligned with andimmediately adjacent a separation line of the barrier layer and beingoutside that layer, there being pull means associated with the barrierlayer for allowing it to be pulled outwardly against the said edge ofthe major front face, said pull means including a tear stop extendingaround the charge of smoking articles from edge to edge of the barrierlayer with one edge of the tear strip defining said separation line. 2.Packaging according to claim 1 wherein said edge of the major front faceof the carton is provided by an inner frame member of the carton. 3.Packaging according to claim 2 wherein inner frame has inner and outermembers, the barrier layer lying between them and the said edge of themajor front face of the carton is of the outer member.
 4. Packagingaccording to claim 3 wherein the inner member provides guidanceshoulders for the lid of the carton as it pivots about the hinge. 5.Packaging according to claim 1 wherein the separation line isadditionally defined by a line of weakening in the barrier layer. 6.Packaging according to claim 1 wherein the barrier layer is a metallizedplastics material.
 7. Packaging according to claim 1 wherein the barrierlayer is a plastics/metal/plastics laminate wherein the metal and theplastics layer contribute primarily to the barrier effect.
 8. Packagingaccording to claim 1 overwrapped with a further enclosure.
 9. Packagingaccording to claim 7 wherein a line of weakening of the separation lineis formed in the other of the plastics layers only.
 10. Packaging forelongate smoking articles having a cuboid container with a front paneland a lid hinged to a rear panel thereof opposite to the front panel,said front panel and rear panel being spaced apart by side walls of thecuboid, a charge of the elongate smoking articles in said container, asealed enclosure around said articles but inside said container beingprovided by a plastics/metal laminate, edges of said laminateoverlapping to form a sealed seam running parallel to the axis ofelongation of the smoking articles, a tear strip of said laminateextending from one said edge of the laminate to the other and one edgeof said tear strip aligned with and immediately adjacent to an edge ofthe front panel of the container whereby an outward pull on a pull tabof the tear strip is for shearing the laminate against the said edge ofthe container.
 11. Packaging according to claim 10 wherein the barrierlayer is a plastics/metal/plastics laminate wherein the metal and oneplastics layer contribute primarily to the barrier effect.
 12. Packagingaccording to claim 11 wherein a line of weakening of a separation lineis provided in the other of the plastics layers only.
 13. Packagingaccording to clam 10 wherein one edge of the tear strip is aligned withand immediately adjacent to edges of the container at the front paneland side walls of the container.
 14. Packaging according to claim 13wherein said edges at the front panel and side walls of the containerare provided by edges from inner frame of the container over which saidlid closes.